My Name Is Zed, And I Will Maintain This Identity
by Ego Sum Primus
Summary: While on his odyssey to Old Poland, Zed hoped the excursion would yield clues to his past. What he found was a bizarre group of ex-scientists living in isolation from civilization in an abandoned research lab. They praised him as the next glorious step in humanity's evolution...
1. Audio Log 217

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio Log 217-

"This is incredible. From out of nowhere, an incredible discovery has captured our attention. Wilhelm has returned. The greatest scientific advancement of humanity to grace this Earth has finally been recovered. Seven hundred seventy-one years of a lost legacy, finally restored. Where has he been all this time? What has happened to him? What does he remember? What does he not remember? Argh, so many questions we have! Only time will tell us Wilhelm's story."


	2. Audio Log 219

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio Log 219-

"A strange predicament, indeed. Wilhelm does not remember his name or his origin. He has been completely memory wiped, his 'brain' now only capable of the recollection of the events occurring after his resurrection. Yet he is unsure of who even found him in the first place. Hrm... It is not important. What really matters is that we've found him at last! Or rather, he has found us. Haha!"


	3. Audio Log 220

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio Log 220-

"Wilhelm has informed us that the only thing he remembers is the name 'Zed'. He told us he assumed that it was his name, and that he'd gone by the moniker ever since. Incredible that he does not remember the events of his past, but his cognitive and responsive functions remain largely intact. One could describe his ailment as amnesia. Oh, how ridiculous! Wilhelm is an android. He walks and talks like us, but he isn't human. He does not have the capacity. But we do know that Alfons Zed came pretty damn close to giving him said capacity... The technological advances evident in Wilhelm are staggering. We must continue to perform tests and experiments. We must learn his secrets. We must crack Alfons' code. To say I am excited is a gross understatement. But I must not let my childish curiosity get the best of me. I must remember that Wilhelm is a machine of war. His power could doom us all... I'm almost glad he doesn't remember anything."


	4. Audio Log 222

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio log 222-

"Wilhelm insists that we call him Zed. We have gingerly obliged, so as to not anger him. An android. Angry. Just goes to show you how ahead of his time Alfons really was. His calm and well being are top priorities of the project. It shouldn't be too hard, as it is essentially his name. We have begun telling Wilhelm of the events of his past, adamantly demanding him that he is to never disclose any of the information we are going to divulge to him. To reveal his history to the public would be problematic. We could not continue Alfons Zed's work while bound in legal red tape. We are going to keep quiet about this. At least for now. Wilhelm's potential will be restored, and we will finally be able to take our first step into the future of the evolution of humanity. Patience, Antoni, patience."


	5. Audio Log 225

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio log 225-

"Hello, Zed."

"Dr. Lewkowicz."

"I hope you are well this evening. I am going to ask you a series of questions, as well as fill in the blanks of the story of your past."

"Very well, Doctor."

"Excellent. Let us begin. Does the name Alfons mean anything to you?"

"I do not know any individual by that name."

"I was afraid so. His full name was Alfons Ivan Zed. He created you, Wilhelm."

"...Created me?"

"Yes. Do you know why we call you Wilhelm?"

"I never had reason to make an inquiry."

"Alfons named you after his brother, Wilhelm Zed."

"...My name isn't Zed?"

"Not exactly. It is your surname, but you were named Wilhelm. I suggest you grow accustomed to it."

"My name is Zed, and I will maintain this identity."

"Wilhelm, listen to me-"

"Zed. My name is Zed. You _will _remember that."

"...Yes. Of course. My apologies."

"Continue."

*_Sigh* _"...As you wish. I forget how advanced you are, Zed. You seem quite independent."

"I have lived for years on my own. Human weaknesses are absent in my programming."

"You are correct. You are a marvel of engineering."

"Next question."

"Ah, yes. Can you tell me about the people you've met? Do you have any friends?"

"...Well, back at the tower, I-"

"...Go on."

"No. This topic is irrelevant."

"Zed."

"Next question."

"That was the last one."

...

"...Now that I think about it, Zed, it is getting a bit late. We can pick up here tomorrow, yes?"

"If that is what you desire, Doctor."

_*Shuffling*_

"Good night, Zed."

...

_*Door sliding shut*_

"Damn it."


	6. Audio Log 229

Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz, Old Poland, 2727

Audio log 229-

"There. It's recording."

"Tell me why, again, Doctor Lewkowicz, you must record every session?"

"Not recording one's experiments would be detrimental to one's efforts, Zed. It is important to document our progress."

"So I am an experiment? Am I not sentient? Do I not have a conscience? Am I not self aware?"

"Please, Zed, calm down. I was, uh, just making an analogy, see? Your thoughts and emotions take precedence over everything we do. You must understand that."

"...I suppose I do. You have given me insight into my life that I had no knowledge of previously... But I am still... unable to process. There are still holes. Bits and pieces missing in the data."

"Yes, of course. But, in this session, I will fill in those bits and pieces. I will tell you the whole story, the way which I understand it. There are still some anomalies that even I am not sure how they happened."

"The story of my existence?"

"Yes, exactly. I hope you are ready."

"I am prepared to exchange data."

"Heheh...It still amazes me how even as aged as you are, you still operate like a supercomputer. It really is something to behold."

"Noted. Please proceed, Doctor."

"*_Clears throat*_ Very well... Uhm... ah, here we are! Poland, 1940... Strange. The exact location has been redacted. Intriguing... Ah, well. Anyway, Alfons Zed was born into a middle class family, to... well, his parents' names are redacted as well. Ha! Top secret, even up to now. Only Alfons' name and his only sibling's name, Wilhelm Zed, are not covered up by black ink."

"These are classified documents, correct?"

"Uh, yes. It was a bitch to get my hands on them, too. Heh, I was nearly ready to toss them out before you found us, Zed."

"You were surprised to discover me?"

"Well, yes. You've been lost for nearly eight centuries."

"Eight... centuries? Eight hundred years?"

"Roughly. Seven hundred seventy-one, to be exact."

"So how did it begin?

"Okay... 1939. Poland. Alfons was 31. Wilhelm, 27. Alfons was regarded as a genius despite his crippling mental illness. Adjudged insane. But mathematically and mechanically brilliant. A recorded adult IQ of 274. His younger brother, having no such illnesses besides being allergic to benzoic acid, was very close to Alfons. And vice versa. The two were near inseparable during childhood. Wilhelm stood up for his older brother, acting as a bastion of comfort for Alfons' ill mind. Skip ahead to the German invasion of Poland. Wilhelm was drafted, Alfons having to stay behind due to his mental illness. Despite Wilhelm's quick thinking and clever aptitude, he was unable to spot a flanking German patrol. He barely had time to turn to his assailants, as described by eye witnesses. His squad was gunned down within seconds. Receiving news of Wilhelm's death, Alfons' mental illness took a turn for the worse. He was unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. Right from wrong. He knew that without his brother, he could never lead a normal life. He had to have Wilhelm back at any cost."

"That is where the name Wilhelm comes from? Alfons' brother?"

"Yes. Shall I continue?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Uh.. ah. Before Alfons' family fled Poland, Alfons ran away. To where... well, that is up to speculation. Most say that he found an old abandoned science laboratory stationed somewhere that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. What happened in the laboratory is a mystery. But we do know that he returned to the general public in 1954, claiming that Wilhelm was never killed. That Wilhelm was staying with him in the laboratory that Alfons had taken refuge in. People called him insane. Rightly so. I mean, he really was insane. Regardless, he convinced officials to follow him to the laboratory that he had taken refuge in for the past fifteen years. While on the trip, unfortunately, Alfons died due to complications. The report says that just before he died, one of the scientists heard him whisper on his dying breath, "You will find Wilhelm. He is inside." They continued their journey into the Polish countryside. It took months of searching, but officials were still able to find the laboratory he'd been talking about. What they found inside was something they were not nearly prepared for in the slightest. Armed with salvaged weapons and ordnance the German and Polish military had left behind, the synthetic being known only as 'Wilhelm' slaughtered the team of 100+ scientists and mercenaries. The fight was bloody. They were not at all trained to handle such a situation. Bloodied and beaten, six scientists managed to escape the wrath of Wilhelm. How they managed to do so, not even they knew. They claimed that their luck was a gift given by God. It was their priority, their destiny to find a way to destroy, or at least disable the synthetic being. Roaming around the laboratory, they found some sort of control panel. They found some sort of containment device for Wilhelm, managing to execute a command to disable him safely without destroying him."

"I...I...That was...me? I killed them?"

"...Yes, Zed. You killed those scientists."

...

"Shall I continue?"

...

"Yes."

"...The scientists agreed very tentatively that this invention was something that they could not contain nor destroy. They decided that they must preserve it somehow. Store it safely somehow so that they could retrieve the synthetic at a later date when they could understand just exactly what it was and how to handle it. They took Wilhelm out of the laboratory, and when word reached the public a number of years later, the facility was found to be almost completely destroyed. Seemingly from a large explosion. Destruction of evidence. Nothing was recovered but rubble. Not even the control panel for Wilhelm. It was unknown what happened to Wilhelm. When questioned, the scientists refused to admit the location. Eventually five of the scientists were killed from being tortured whilst in captivity, officials unable to persuade them to reveal anything pertaining to Wilhelm's whereabouts. The final, sixth scientist escaped. Enthusiasts of this particular mystery claimed that the location of Wilhelm was in danger of being discovered, and the sixth scientist escaped from torture to move Wilhelm to a different secured place. It is assumed the scientist died of natural causes some time later. But not before delivering his own classified document detailing the specifics of what happened to a particular confidential science team. My science team... The sixth scientist was never seen after that, and Wilhelm was never found... Many thought that he was lost forever. We would never find him... Wilhelm was forgotten.

But isn't it humorous how instead of us finding him, he has found us?"

"This is official documentation, correct?"

"From the sixth scientist, yes. A summary, of course. The original document would take days to explain, at least."

"...But why is it that Alfons created a synthetic version of Wilhelm? And such a violent one at that?"

"No one really knows. Alfons' mental condition continues to be unique from every other recorded case of insanity. It truly is a mystery. The enthusiasts I told you about? Many theories surfaced in this group. Some said that Alfons, despite his close connection to his brother, believed that Wilhelm was weak in his own right. Emotions made Wilhelm incomplete. An absence of such petty emotions could ensure Wilhelm's invincibility. It was speculated that Alfons believed emotions were what made humankind weak. That we are ruled by bias, and can therefore never achieve a higher stage of evolution. It was believed by Alfons that this jump from flesh to metal and wires was what would complete a human being. Make it unstoppable in obtaining its destiny. The purge of flesh would bring a new age of humanity, that the creation of a synthetic Wilhelm that was nearly unstoppable would open the eyes of the world to a new possibility, a new stage of human augmentation... But it was all wild speculation, of course. No one actually knows how or why Wilhelm was created. Perhaps if we were to take logical clues from the official document..."

"That observation does not seem logical."

"Heh, don't ask me. Ask the skeptics... But, Zed, listen. Alfons' advances in science can really bring forth a new age for humanity! We can extinguish the darkness with the power Alfons has given us! We can finally-"

"You actually want to continue what that monster started?"

"...Wh-what?"

"Alfons Zed was a fool. He created a machine of mindless death. Nothing to think of but war. But that has passed. I will not return to my old programming. I will not be a slave to his machinations. I am not Wilhelm and I never will be. Alfons' designs die with him."

"Wilhelm, no! This is the future we are talking about! We cannot waste this chance!"

"There is no future for humankind on this path. Wilhelm is dead. My name is Zed, and I will maintain this identi-

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	7. Cor Meum Tuum Est

Servos droned, and gears shifted in him as Zed trod through corridors of ancient rust and metal. There were millions of footsteps entwined with his own, the only sound to fill these halls in years. Decades. Or maybe just moments. It was irrelevant. What was relevant was what happened in these halls, in the rooms and laboratories that surrounded him, what the walls had seen all those years ago. The atrocities, the abominations, all experiments gone awry. If they could speak, they would tell stories of this place. Maybe he was one of the anathemas of history, foreordained to rot alone, forgotten, lost in time, but risen from the grave purely by erroneous accident. But all was extraneous to the metal colossus lumbering through between the countless arrays of venerable consoles and equipment, the rusts of time, and overgrowth of neglect sinking its teeth into the place.

There was red, emblazoned across his armor, various human viscera and matter still clinging to his knuckles. The realization was there. He could not forget. His 'brain' wouldn't allow it. It could not delete. It could not repress the experience. Every detail is recognized. Every subtle change or deviation is noted, and the image is altered accordingly. Besides, what else was there, but memory? He struggled, labored, fought savagely to think. To rationalize, and to understand. To feel. There was so much more to this. There had to be. Alfons could not give him this capacity, but Zed could find it, of his own volition. It was a miracle, a scientific wonder for an android to exert free will. To move, compute, and destroy as he does. To kill as he does.

He'd murdered the scientists. He executed them all with impunity, indiscriminately. Even Lewkowicz. He told him his name. Antoni. Before he begged, pleaded for his life, for mercy, Zed had told him to shut his eyes, and reminisce of his fondest memory. And when he acquiesced, Zed shot him in between the eyes. It was the sixth shot. The last shot. The last death. As he dropped the revolver, he dropped to his knees. There was no absolution. There was no saving grace for him. He was a killer. But it was the last kill. And at last, he could stop, even if only for a while. It... confused him why he stopped. It was as if he felt... remorse. Maybe it was the beginning. Maybe it was the end. Or maybe he had only the capacity to deceive himself. Fool himself to imagine a conscience that was not there. In the end, death was all that remained. Twenty two dead men, six of which with holes in their heads. All of them were consecutive; he'd made a trail of bodies and blood... Blood.

Someone once told him that blood smelled of iron, that the taste was like the rust of the old rockets in the cosmodrome. He wondered if he smelled like blood...

Zed froze.

He wondered.

Then something jolted in his head, sparks and smoke spitting from the chassis of his cranium. He clutched his head. Was this pain? It was so simple, so sweet and strong, but absent so quickly.

Then he saw, he knew, and it shook him to his core. Scientists, Polizei, hands with guns clutched in their fingers. Hanging on for dear life.

_Przyjdą, Wilhelm, i będzie zabijać. Będą widzieć, i będzie zabijać. Umrą, i będzie zabijać. Będą łuk, a zwyciężysz. Pokażesz, Wilhelm, i będą wiedzieć._

It was too much. He had to get out. There was something in his head that terrified him, but he couldn't find it. He couldn't see it. It was a predator in the overcast dark. It hunted and stalked him all the way here, and it had finally found him.

Zed ran, sprinting, racing to escape from this hell. He knew nothing else, could not understand anything else, but death. Death knew him, and he knew it. And it had found him. Seven hundred years of nothing, but Death found him once again.

He broke through to a room, twenty two skeletons awaiting his return. They turned to see him, to greet him. They knew he'd come back to them. Perhaps not so soon, but they knew. They smiled as they outreached to him, calling his name. It was a name he did not need, did not use, and did not want. But they spoke as if it were him. It had always been him. It had always been Wilhelm.

And Alfons would love him like he would never know.

Alfons stared into his eyes, a fond smile across his face, old and cracked, and decaying with rot.

_They come, Wilhelm, and it will kill them. They will see, and will kill. They would die, and it will kill them. They will bow, and win. Show, Wilhelm, and they will know._

And Wilhelm showed them. And they knew.

The Traveler helped him.


End file.
